Hardcover

Overview

The Mexican American Experience by Matt Meier, Margo Gutierrez

Mexican Americans are rapidly becoming the largest minority in the United States, playing a vital role in the culture of the American Southwest and beyond. This A-to-Z guide offers comprehensive coverage of the Mexican American experience. Entries range from figures such as Corky Gonzales, Joan Baez, and Nancy Lopez to general entries on bilingual education, assimilation, border culture, and southwestern agriculture. Court cases, politics, and events such as the Delano Grape Strike all receive full coverage, while the definitions and significance of terms such as coyote and Tejano are provided in shorter entries.

Taking a historical approach, this book's topics date back to the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, a radical turning point for Mexican Americans, as they lost their lands and found themselves thrust into an alien social and legal system. The entries trace Mexican Americans' experience as a small, conquered minority, their growing influence in the 20th century, and the essential roles their culture plays in the borderlands, or the American Southwest, in the 21st century.

Product Details

About the Author

MATT S. MEIER (deceased) was Patrick A. Donohoe, S.J. Professor Emeritus at Santa Clara University. He was a pioneer in researching and teaching the history of Mexican Americans. His most recent books include the Encyclopedia of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement (2000, with Margo Gutiérrez) and Notable Latino Americans: A Biographical Dictionary (1997).

MARGO GUTIÉRREZ is Assistant Head Librarian at the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas, Austin. She is the coauthor of the Encyclopedia of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement (with Matt Meier, 2000) and The Border Guide (1992).

Editorial Reviews

This reference offers reliable, accessible, and exemplary broad coverage. A single alphabet presents persons, places, events, movements, and concepts that have formed and informed on the title topic. Entries vary from a single paragraph, such as the piece on Católicos por la Raza, to two pages for Midwest Chicanos, all with internal cross-references and suggested further reading. Entries include both the expected and elsewhere broadly documented subjects such as the Zoot Suit Riots, but the book also covers high school research topics that can be more difficult to locate in general collections, such as the Lemon Grove school segregation case. A topical guide shows the dynamism of coverage, which includes land grant issues, performing arts, and sport as well as social and political activism and education. This resource belongs in every secondary school and public library, whether the subject matter is covered with more depth in other resources or appears to have little local interest. Students can use the information as it is presented readily and will realize how thorough is the effect of this ethnic group's experiences on the American way of life-from dining table (migratory labor) to curriculum design (the English-only movement). Here is a title whose relative value cannot be judged merely by its size, but also for its eloquence and long-term usefulness. 2003, Greenwood, 488p.; Index. Illus. Photos. Biblio. Further Reading., PLB. Ages 12 to Adult. Francisca Goldsmith